Various Books on Buddhism

[theravada_guy]

Greetings all,

The list below is comprised of books I found on a Web store in India. I was just wondering if anyone has ever heard of or read any of them? Are there any to definitely avoid? I know it's a rather long list, but I want any feedback that I can get. Thank you all for any help you can provide!



Theravada Buddhism Based on Pali Sources Revised Sub Edition (Harcharan Singh Sobti, Reginald S. Copleston)
A Text Book of the History of Theravada Buddhism 2nd Revised Edition (Arvind Kr. Singh, K.T.S. Sarao)
Faith and Devotion in Theravada Buddhism (Sanghasen Singh, V.V.S. Saibaba)
Buddhist Sects and Sectarianism (Bibhuti Baruah)
Buddhist Sects in India (Nalinaksha Dutt)
A History of Indian Buddhism (B.K. Chandrashekhar)
History of Indian Buddhism (T.W. Rhys Davids)
A Comprehensive History of Indian Buddhism (Asim Kumar Chatterjee)
A History of Indian Buddhism From Sakyamuni to Early Mahayana (Hirakawa Akira)
A History of Indian Buddhism (S.R. Goyal)
Early Buddhism and its Origins (Vishwanath Prasad Varma)
Faith and Philosophy of Buddhism (V.S. Bhaskar)
Mahayana Buddhism (Nalinaksha Dutt)
Introducing Mahayana Buddhism (Biswanath Banerjee, Sukomal Chaudhuri)
Mahayana Buddhism (K.S. Dwivedi)
Mahayana Buddhism The Doctrinal Foundations (Paul Williams)
Indian Buddhism: A Survey with Bibliographical Notes (Hajime Nakamura)
Indian Buddhism after the Buddha (S.R. Goyal)
Origin and Nature of Ancient Indian Buddhism (K.T.S. Sarao)
Introduction to Indian Buddhism (K.S. Dwivedi)
Buddhist Iconography in Thailand A South-East Asian Perspective (A.K. Bhattacharyya)
Theravada Buddhism in Southeast Asia (Robert C. Lester)
Thai Buddhism. Its Rites and Activities (Kenneth E. Wells)
Dictionary of Buddhism: Thai-English & English-Thai (16th Edition) (P.A. Payutto)
The Buddhist Schools of the Small Vehicle (Andre Bareau)

[Bhikkhu Pesala]

I have never read any of them that I recall.

What is it that you want to learn about Buddhism?

[theravada_guy]

Venerable Pesala,

Thank you for responding. I have plenty of books on the basics of the Dhamma. With the list of books that I posted, I am trying to learn all I can about the history of Buddhism in India, learn more about the different sects/schools of Buddhism that exist both in the past and currently, and learn more about the basics of Mahayana Buddhism. I have "Indian Buddhism" by A.K. Warder on my list of books to buy from Pariyatti, which may be all I need as far as the history of Buddhism in India?

[tiltbillings]

I have "Indian Buddhism" by A.K. Warder on my list of books to buy from Pariyatti, which may be all I need as far as the history of Buddhism in India?

Warder's is a good book, worth reading. Also, I'd recommend Peter Harvey's excellent INTRODUCTION TO BIUDDHISM, 2nd ed., which you can find used. Paul Williams' BUDDHIST THOUGHT, which you might be able to get cheaply used is worth reading solely for its chapter on the origins of the Mahayana (chapter 3). Another book worth reading is Rupert Gethins' THE FOUNDATIONS OF BUDDHISM. These books will give you a good overview the history of Buddhism and its ideas.

A lot of the books in the list you gave us are woefully out of date.

[theravada_guy]

Thank you, tilt, for the book recommendations and for letting me know that most of those books aren't up to date.